Congratulations to Carol Carter (Alabama) and Jennifer Pavlish (Washington) who were both randomly selected to win a COPY of Lawrence Watt-Evans’ “The Turtle Moves! Discworld’s Story Unauthorized” thanks to BenBella Books!!! “The Turtle Moves! Discworld’s Story Unauthorized” is out now and you can find more information the book HERE. You can also read Lawrence Watt-Evans’ Guest Blog on Fantasy Book Critic.

In news, Orbit Books is thrilled to announce a three-book deal for an urban fantasy series by debut author Nicole Peeler, pre-empted with agent Rebecca Strauss of McIntosh and Otis Inc. The first volume, “Tempest Rising”, will be published in Fall/Winter 2009.

Senior Editor Devi Pillai says, “Nicole's writing jumped out at me from the very beginning. She has a great voice, quirky characters, and a fabulous heroine—in short, a perfect package. With the setting being a sleepy town in Maine with even odder happenings, this was just too unique an opportunity for us to pass up.”

Nicole Peeler says: “I am both honored and excited to work with Devi and with Orbit. My characters are very dear to me, and I could not ask for a better home for them.”

Jane True is a twenty-something, secret night-swimmer and unintentional social pariah. Living in the small town of Rockabill, Maine, Jane has always known she didn’t quite fit in with ‘normal’ society. She just didn’t know that her absent mother’s legacy would give her entry into a world that included vampires, goblins and succubae…

Nicole Peeler is an assistant professor of English Literature at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. She is currently working on her next novel.

Moving on, Matthew Hughes recently posted Jay Lake’s introduction to his Archonate novel, “Template”. You can check out the full introduction HERE, but I’ve included a little excerpt below:

“Hughes's first Archonate work was the novel Fools Errant, published in 1994. He has produced fifteen short stories and seven novels in this setting, not as a series per se, but as ventures into the world of his mind. I cannot say for certain if there is an overarching plot bridging the body of his work, but there certainly is a set of overarching themes. This is a Canadian sort of universe, bereft of the assumptive exceptionalism so embedded in American culture and literature, instead replaced with a constellation of norms which overlap and intertwine. People are in and of the world, and find their way through it. Like all good fiction, Hughes's work succeeds not for its strangeness, but for its familiarity. The hero's journey is our own journey, after all.”

Readers can also read the first chapter to “Template” HERE courtesy of BookSpotCentral and Fantasy Book Critic’s review HERE.

Lastly, a press release: When Neil Gaiman put out the first Sandman comic book, did he know he was creating one of the most original and artistically ambitious series of the modern age and paving the way for the current high popularity and critical status of graphic novels? Find out as he talks with author, graphic designer and editor Chip Kidd. They’ll cover not only Sandman but Gaiman’s other adult and children’s titles, including The Graveyard Book, American Gods, Coraline, Neverwhere, Stardust, and his screenplay for the movie Beowulf. Kidd, himself the author of the forthcoming Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan, brings a discerning eye and an enthusiastic fan’s sensibility to the conversation. Also, both Gaiman and Kidd will sign books after the event.